This distressing but hugely important text, which the Marquis de Sade himself called "the most impure tale that has ever been written since the world exists," has influenced countless major artists and thinkers throughout history. Flaubert and Baudelaire both read Sade, the surrealists were obsessed with him, filmmakers like Pasolini saw parallels with twentieth-century history in his writings, and feminists such as Simone de Beauvoir and Angela Carter fought over him. This new translation brings Sade's provocative novel into Penguin Classics for the first time, and will reignite the debate around this most controversial of writers.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.